Natura 2000Europe’s safety net for nature – and people

Europe, indeed the world, is in crisis. We are presently facing a rate

of extinction of species of plants and animals that exceeds that experienced

when dinosaurs disappeared from earth. As these species are lost to us,

forever, the web of life of which we are a part of and on which we

depend is quickly becoming threadbare and frayed.

At threat is not only our natural heritage,

but also the very basis of our economy, culture, and society.

To address this serious threat, European countries have taken

an unprecedented step to establish a safety net for nature,

and ultimately also for people:

the Natura 2000 network.

Natura 2000 and the  Thanks to a good legal basis

  the Natura 2000 network is almost complete, 

  investments in the network are investments  

in the future – of nature and of us all.©

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anon

/Mic

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Dep

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Hohe Tauern, The Alps, Austria.

Source: © EEA, Copenhagen, 2006

Biogeographic Regions of Europe Arctic

Boreal

Atlantic

Continental

Alpine

Pannonian

Mediterranean

Macaronesian

Steppic

Black Sea

Anatolian

Natura 2000 is a network of specially pro-

tected sites, established to protect and main-

tain habitats and species of European value

and importance. Establishment of the network

is at the heart of the Habitats and Birds Direc-

tives, the cornerstones of the EU’s legislation

on nature conservation and key instruments

for achieving the Community objectives of

halting biodiversity loss in 2010 and long-term

sustainable development. The twin directives

represent the most important legal effort to

preserve our natural heritage at continental

scale in the whole world.

In addition, the Directives provide a mecha-

nism for mediating potential conflicts between

nature and humans, helping to develop win-

win solutions that can benefit humans while

preserving the natural assets upon which we

depend. They provide a process for evaluating

potential negative impacts on nature values

from infrastructure development and other

human activities and identifying alternatives.

Where these alternatives are not possible

or practical, the Directives can help identify

mitigation and compensation measures to limit

the negative impacts on the nature values as

much as possible.

At present, the Natura 2000 network covers

one sixth of the European Union – an area

larger than Germany – and is still growing,

with additional areas to be designated espe-

cially for marine areas.

EU Habitats Directive

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Mediterranean sea, Ile de Port-Cros, France.

The Habitats Directive: The Habitats Directive and companion Birds

Directive are the only pieces of EU legislation

that directly address biodiversity. In develop-

ing and implementing the twin directives, the

EU has been treading new ground – both

within Europe and across the globe.

Fran

ce

Irela

nd

Gre

ece

Ger

man

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Aus

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Bel

gium

Italy

Net

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and

27 Judgements by the European Court of Justice  concerning the Habitats and Birds Directive

one cube = one case

As a result, to a certain extent, the EU has

had to “learn by doing”. However, the practi-

cal work of developing and implementing the

Habitats Directive has not thrown up a big

number of questions and uncertainties, as

the information from the European Court of

Justice show:©

WW

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Male Ruff in breeding plumage, Poland.

Source: www.curia.europa.eu

A Good Legal Basis

To date, the European Court of Justice has passed

27 judgments related to the Habitats and Birds

Directives – compared with 387 judgments

on “competition” and almost 300 with regard

to “environment and consumers”

(except habitats and birds).

Clear decisions by the European Court of Jus-

tice have expedited transposition of the Habitats

Directive into national legislation, which will soon

be completed. For site selection – the second

most important subject of judgements – a clear

and transparent procedure has been established

for identifying and evaluating proposed sites: the

biogeographic seminars. The seminars provide

The Habitats Directive provides a useful

mechanism for finding win-win solutions that

take into account both biodiversity protection

and other needs, including socioeconomic de-

velopment – a mechanism for evaluating and

limiting potential negative impacts to these

exceptional nature values, including identifica-

tion of less damaging alternatives or, where

this is not possible or practical, identification

of possible compensation measures. As such,

the EU’s cornerstone conservation legislation

is a crucial instrument for our efforts not only

to halt biodiversity loss in Europe, but also to

achieve long-term sustainable development.

a transparent and scientifically based decision

making process involving leading scientific experts,

national authorities, the European Commission and

nongovernmental organisations that should mini-

mise the need to resort to courts of law.

Judgments concerning plans and projects causing

conflicts with the aims of the EU conservation leg-

islation are less in number as generally such cases

can be addressed at national level.

© W

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Can

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mun

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Lappland, Finland.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Natura 2000: A Nearly The first step towards protecting our natural

richess is to know what we have. The work of

identifying and designating individual sites

for inclusion in the Natura 2000 network is

nearing completion. The task has been hugely

challenging, requiring the comprehensive

mapping and analysis of nature values across

the EU member states – much of it done for

the first time. Today, thanks to this process, we

have a much better understanding of Europe’s

most valuable flora, fauna and natural areas.

The process of site designation takes place

according to several discrete biogeographic

regions. For the older EU-15 member states,

the process of site identification and designa-

Results from last Biogeographical seminars Alps Region

Austria Germany Spain France Italy Finland Sweden

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

 Atlantic Region

Belgium Germany Denmark Spain France

© W

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Sufficient Probably Sufficient No Conclusions Insufficient

Danube river delta. Romania.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Completed Networktion is almost finished, although some work

is still needed to complete totally the net-

work. Site designation is also moving quickly

forward in the new EU member states, which

have profited considerably from the experi-

ence of their older EU neighbours. The main

challenge remaining will be to identify and

designate Natura 2000 sites in marine areas,

for which data is often missing.

The latest information from the European

Commission shows the advanced status of

completion of the network for three of the

biogeographical regions in the EU-15 (see

graphics below). The EU ember states have

to make a final effort in order to finish off the

network.

Ireland Nether- lands

Portugal United Kingdom

 Continental Region

Austria Germany Denmark France Italy Luxemb. Sweden

© W

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hoff

Eurasian beaver, Poland.

Source: www.ec.europa.eu/comm/environment/nature

5 mil. €

10 mil. €

15 mil. €

20 mil. €

25 mil. €

Investments in Nature, Conservation needs money, and investing

in nature is ultimately investing in the future,

for the benefit of ourselves as well as future

generations. The EU’s “LIFE-NATURE” fund

has supported concrete measures for the

implementation of Natura 2000 which cannot

be financed from other EU sources. Lots of

projects have been undertaken throughout the

European Union, to protect and maintain habi-

tats and species of European interest from

the Iberian lynx in Spain to the brown bear in

Austria. In addition to habitat restoration, LIFE

projects have supported the harmonization of

land user interests or the development of eco-

nomic activities in conjunction with conserva-

tion strategies. The graph shows the budget of

LIFE Nature projects from the year 2005.

© W

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tian

Ric

h

LIFE NATURE Projects 2005 Total budget LIFE budget

Coruche, Ribatejo region, Portugal.

Source: www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/life

BE DE DK AT UK ESES PL NL LT IT RO SE SE LV FI SK HU IE LU EL

5 mil. €

10 mil. €

15 mil. €

20 mil. €

25 mil. €

Significantly more EU and related national

support should become available for imple-

mentation of the Natura 2000 network in the

EU’s next financial period, 2007–13, both

through EU agricultural as well as regional

development funding programmes.

For the next 6-year financing period

(2007–2013), the EU Member States should

integrate the funding for Natura 2000 into

all relevant EU funds, such as the Structural

Funds. Only the so-called LIFE+ Regula-

tion will include funds exclusively for nature

and environment. Only about 0.2% of the

EU budget will be dedicated to this fund.

Therefore, all relevant stakeholders – from

Ministries to NGOs – currently have a very

important responsibility to ensure that the

use of these funding opportunities is ad-

equately planned and used.

© A

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Lech river, The Alps., Austria.

Investments in the Future

WWF and Natura 2000WWF and its partner  

organisations strongly support 

the implementation of the  

Habitats and Birds Directives 

and the establishment  

of Natura 2000. 

The twin directives represent a real attempt to

conserve Europe’s biological diversity based

on sound scientific evidence, and protecting

a representative sample of all Europe’s most

threatened habitats and species. The Habitats

Directive does not rule out economic activi-

ties in Natura 2000 areas, but rather provides

a process and framework for protecting Eu-

rope’s natural wealth and promoting long-term

sustainable development.

© W

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on/J

ean-

Luc

Ray

Aiguamolls de l‘Empordà, Costa Brava, Catalonia, Spain.

Our work

For this purpose, we have been actively as-

sisting national and EU authorities and other

stakeholders to identify, to designate and then

to actively protect and manage Natura 2000

sites and species. Our work includes raising

awareness of Natura 2000, e.g. the “Flying

over Natura 2000” project, in which storks

were monitored and shown in TV in their

migration over Europe (www.flyingover.net).

We also support the EU accession member

states in their first stages of implementation of

the EU nature directives.

Who are we?

WWF, the global conservation organisation,

works together with partner organizations

throughout the EU for the implementation of

Natura 2000 and the Habitats and Birds Di-

rectives. As a member of the European Habi-

tats Forum, a coalition of NGOs working for

the implementation of the Habitats and Birds

Directives (www.iucn.org/places/europe/

rofe), we provide input and advice to the Euro-

pean Commission, particularly relating to the

implementation of the Habitats Directives and

the establishment of the conservation network.

© W

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Some members of the WWF and Partner Organization’s Natura 2000 Team.

WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:• conserving the world’s biological diversity • ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable • promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption

© 1

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(For

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May 2006

www.panda.org/epo

Alberto Arroyo Schnell

WWF International

alberto.arroyo@www.at

Andreas Baumüller

WWF European Policy Office

abaumueller@wwfepo.org